A kinetic evaluation on NO2 formation in the post-flame region of pressurized oxy-combustion process

Pressurized oxy-combustion is a promising technology that can significantly re-duce the energy penalty associated with first generation oxy-combustion for CO2 capture in coal-fired power plants. However, higher pressure enhances the production of strong acid gases, including NO2 and SO3, aggravating the corrosion threat during flue gas re-circulation. In the flame region, high temperature NOx exists mainly as NO, while conversion from NO to NO2 happened in post-flame region. In this study, the conversion of NO → NO2 has been kinetically evaluated under representative post-flame conditions of pressurized oxy-combustion after validating the mechanism (80 species and 464 reactions), which includes nitrogen and sulfur chemistry based on GRI-MECH 3.0. The effects of residence time, temperature, pressure, major species (O2/H2O), and minor or trace species (CO/SOx) on NO2 formation are studied. The calculation results show that when pressure is increased from 1 to 15 bar, NO2 is increased from 1 to 60 ppm, and the acid dew point increases by over 80°C. Higher pressure and temperature greatly reduce the time required to reach equilibrium. With increasing pressure and decreasing temperature, O plays a much more important role than HO2 in the oxidation of NO. A higher water vapor content accelerates NO2 formation in all cases by providing more O and HO2 radicals. The addition of CO or SO2 also promotes the formation of NO2. The NO2 formation in a pressurized oxy-combustion furnace can be over 10 times that of an atmospheric air-combustion furnace